Tips to Help You Keep Your New Year’s Resolutions

How many New Year’s resolutions have you made in your life – and how many of them have you kept? This year, stop this the vicious cycle of promising yourself you’re going to make changes and then not following through with them. If you want to finally make this the year that you make a commitment to improved health and fitness, then you need to follow these tips from Los Angeles personal trainer Lalo Fuentes to help your resolutions stick!

Get Realistic

You may want to be the Queen of England or win the lottery, but those aren’t exactly changes you can control in your life. The best New Year’s resolutions are those that are achievable.

“You’re not being honest with yourself if you think you can make a New Year’s resolution to never eat your favorite food again,” says Lalo Fuentes, CSCS, “that kind of resolution is setting you up for failure. Instead, make your goal that you’ll only indulge in your favorite food once a month – if it’s one that’s unhealthy for you.”

Make a Plan

Changes you want to make with your health and fitness should be ones that are planned out. They shouldn’t be something you come up with on a whim, but instead changes you have been thinking to make for quite some time – maybe you just need a solid start date to get you going. Meet with a Los Angeles personal trainer who can help you map out how you’re going to achieve your new health and fitness goals and you’ll have more success in making them a reality.

Talk it Out

Resolutions should not be kept secret. Tell your family and friends who you will count on to support your resolutions. If you can find someone in your family or a buddy who shares the same goals, then you can work to motivate each other.

Give Rewards

Everyone likes to feel as if they’re making progress. Goals can feel very large and far away at times, which is why you must reward yourself for smaller victories along the way. Personal trainers often suggest that clients treat themselves to something they enjoy that doesn’t contradict their resolutions.

If, for example, you’ve been eating better, reward yourself with a new outfit or a movie (without the giant tub of popcorn!) with a friend.

Be Kind to Yourself

Everyone stumbles along the way to better health and fitness – you’re not perfect and never will be. But an occasional slip up doesn’t mean you can’t meet your goals. Do your best each day because that’s all you – or anyone else – can do.

Stick to It

According to Los Angeles personal trainers, it takes 21 days for a something new to become a habit. It takes even longer, about six months, for it to become a part of your personality. Changes you want to make aren’t going to happen overnight, but sticking to your plan and working with a personal trainer who can help can bring you success.

Changes aren’t easy to make, but they are possible. As long as you don’t set yourself up for failure, there’s no goal you can’t meet or change you can’t make to your body – just hang in there!